Recently diagnosed but can't go on medication due to low BP

[greedyguzzler]

Hello, My Dad has recently been diagnosed with alzheimers and was put on medication briefly until they realised his BP was so low he shouldn't be on any. Has anyone else had a similar problem? Are there any alternatives for him? He is so upset because he was pinning all his hopes on medication and now feels like he has nowhere to go apart from downhill.
Is it worth going private and how would we go about doing that?

 

[Jess26]

It's easy enough to go private. My daughter asked her GP for the name of a private consultant, she rang and got an appointment within a couple of days rather than the six months she had been quoted.
I'm not sure it would be of benefit in your dad's case though. I would say it was unlikely they would contradict what he has been told unfortunately.

 

[stanleypj]

And bear in mind - though it's no consolation - that only a small percentage of people who take the drugs get much benefit from them so he may not be any worse off and he has been spared any nasty side-effects.

How low was his BP. as a matter of interest, was his BP? My wife, who is not on any conventional medication and is doing pretty well compared with many who are, had BP of 90 over 60 recently.

 

[Spamar]

OH's heart rate is normally low. However at a recent meeting with the psychiatrist , it was decided to halve the aricept dose. This drug apparently can lower heart rate. He has been on aricept for 6 years! But he did has a vascular op recently so that may have affected things. Whilst heart rate is generally low, blood pressure seems to be all over the place!

 

[greedyguzzler]

sorry it was his heart rate not BP and it went down to 36 bpm at some points in a 24hr period.
I might suggest he goes private as the waiting around seems to really frustrate him too as he feels like he is wasting valuable time whilst he is waiting for appointments with the GP and the cardiologist and then the mental health specialist.

 

[Cloverland]

Low heart rate vs medication

My dad is 90 and on riverstigmine (not sure of spelling) his heart rate recently went very low so they stopped all blood pressure tablets, heart rate has increased, so it is possible to have medication. Speak to your gp again.

 

[Dustycat]

My Dad has a slow heart rate so they put him on Memantine but I don't think it's made any difference at all. X